1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to systems and methods for bedwetting detection and prevention. The present invention relates more specifically to a system and method utilizing a remote wireless alarm unit for behavior modification to eliminate bedwetting.
2. Description of the Related Art
The basic bedwetting prevention system utilized in homes, hospitals, and extended care facilities provides a number of essential elements intended to detect the condition and to transmit and receive a signal to alert either the user and/or the caregiver. Many of the currently available systems are designed simply to alert a caregiver in order to minimize the time that the user must remain in wet bedding and clothing. Other currently available systems disclose devices designed to wake the user upon activation of the wetness sensor. The basic existing system incorporates a fluid sensor, a sensor signal transmitter, and a signal receiver alarm unit. There is typically a switch which operates to deactivate the system. There is also typically a remote receiver designed to alert a parent or a caregiver. In addition, most bedwetting systems are directed to detection of moisture and dry skin maintenance rather than a behavior modification program to eliminate bedwetting altogether.
For successful integration of a behavior modification program with a bedwetting elimination system, the alarm receiver unit must thoroughly wake the user and the deactivation mechanism must require sufficient alertness to enable reprogramming of the user's sleep patterns and behavior. Various prior art devices require a simple physical response to deactivate the alarm such as flipping a switch, but such actions can often be performed by the user without arousal to the point of mental consciousness. Because behavior modification requires alteration of stimuli/response patterns, optimal reprogramming of sleep and bedwetting patterns will occur most easily if the user attains a certain minimum level of mental consciousness.
Efforts have been made in the past to appropriately rouse the user to facilitate such learning and training. For the most part these efforts have focused on the loudness of the alarm or the requirement that the user perform a simple physical motion to deactivate the alarm. Such systems clearly suffer from the inability to maintain the association between the bedwetting event and the interruption of sleep over time. This is due to the likelihood of the user learning to perform the simple physical motion without sufficient mental consciousness to “reprogram” the bedwetting behavior.
Several patents in the prior art disclose systems designed to detect bedwetting and transmit a signal which triggers an alarm at a remote location. U.S. Pat. No. 4,800,370 issued to Vetecnik on Jan. 24, 1989 entitled WETNESS DETECTION SYSTEM, U.S. Pat. No. 4,271,406 issued to Wilson on Jun. 2, 1981 entitled BED WETTING TATTLER, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,097,297 issued to Fard on Aug. 1, 2000 entitled WETNESS AWARENESS TRAINING DEVICE teach systems primarily directed to alerting a parent or caregiver, rather than the individual in the bed, to the bedwetting condition.
Other prior art patents are designed to detect bedwetting and awaken the user. Examples of these include U.S. Pat. No. 4,347,503 issued to Uyehara on Aug. 31, 1982 entitled BEDWETTING DETECTION DEVICE, U.S. Pat. No. 3,778,570 issued to Shuman on Dec. 11, 1973 entitled ENURESIS BED PAD, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,074,317 issued to Bondell et al. on Dec. 24, 1991 entitled SYSTEM FOR TREATMENT OF ENURESIS. These inventions detect moisture and awaken the user. Uyehara teaches a moisture-sensitive device which triggers an alarm to awaken the user, whereupon the user must turn off the device by flipping a switch located on a bedside control box. Shuman discloses a bed pad with sensor strips that form a circuit when enuresis occurs, resulting in activation of an audible and/or visual signal to awaken the user. No deactivation process is disclosed. Bondell et al. describes an interactive computerized training system which verbally rewards the user. The system includes a wireless moisture sensor that is clipped to the underpants of the user as well as a remote alarm deactivation key and a bedside system reset key.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,072,384 issued to Baker on Jun. 6, 2000 entitled BED WETTING PREVENTION SYSTEM, awakens the user and requires that the user be at a remote location, such as a bathroom, in order to insert a disc-shaped magnet into a radio assembly housing in order to silence the alarm and reset the system.
While many efforts have been made in the past to provide a system to detect bedwetting behavior, such efforts have generally failed to achieve the goal of training the user to stop bedwetting. It would be desirable to have a system and method for the elimination of bedwetting behavior that is based upon the user's bedwetting pattern and which requires sufficient interaction by the user for behavior modification to occur. It would further be desirable that the system be inexpensive to manufacture and easy to use.